No Room For Christ, Yet Room For Us # 2
With all the modern cries of tolerance, too many show the bigotry of Bethlehem. There is still "no room" for Christ's love; else why would this generation bleed its best power away in a second World War? "No room" for His humility; else why would half of this earth hear Him say, "Blessed are the peacemakers" but be forced to follow Nietzsche as he cries out in contradiction. "Blessed are the war makers"? "No room" for His holy Word in modern culture, where experts would train our children without reverence for God and faith in His Bible! "No room" for our Lord's creed of self-denial, when certain modern magazines feature page after page, picture after picture, paragraph after paragraph of profanity and indecency, but not a single sentence regarding this ageless message, "Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord!" "No room" for the promise of His Cross and His blood, when more Americans reject Him than ever before; when theological professors, contradicting the holy angel's anthem, "He shall save His people from their sins" deny that the Child in the manger is our Immanuel, our God-with-us; when many American churches do not once open their doors on Christmas Day! "No room" for the Nativity mercy, which promises us that we are saved through humble, penitent, trusting faith in the Babe of Bethlehem as our Lord and our Redeemer, while great religious bodies deny this center and climax of our faith, "By grace are ye saved!"
A pointed, personal issue confronts you: Jesus, the Christ Child of Christmas, in this moment seeks entrance into your heart. Will you turn away from Him because your soul is saturated with the driving desire for money? Fresh in our minds is the account of a merchant-marine sailor who had secured a thousand dollars, perhaps more money than he had ever owned in his life, a sum so impressive that his heart was closely attached to this treasure, carefully stored in his locker. His ship was torpedoed, and after he was rescued, he admitted that in those perilous hours he had never even thought of his thousand dollars. In the crisis moments of life, if you have rejected Jesus, you have lost more than money can ever buy. You have sacrificed your soul's salvation. This is Christ's warning, "He that believeth not shall be damned." The Christmas appeal, above eating and drinking, giving and receiving, visiting and being visited, lighting and decorating, the plea that comes from the very manger of the Christ Child, asks you: "Make room for Jesus! Grant Him entrance into your heart! Welcome Him into your home!"
II. THE SINLESS CHRIST CHILD ALWAYS WELCOMES SINFUL MEN
Although "there was no room" for Christ at Bethlehem's inn, "yet there was room" as the second part of our festival text explains room for you in His heart of love, in His Kingdom of Grace, in His Father's heavenly mansions. At His manger crib "there is room" for every sinner, especially the desperate and downtrodden, including those of you who write me tear-stained letters declaring that the transgressions of the past rise up to disturb you, waking or sleeping. When you come to Jesus in faith and He comes to you in His mercy, He removes the curse of your sin. He washes away its stain. The fire of His devotion burns away your iniquity. The power of His presence purifies your heart and strengthens your life. Take courage and believe on this Christmas day that nothing can keep you from Bethlehem and the forgiveness in the newborn Saviour but your own impenitence, your refusal to accept the Christ Child's promise of full, free and final pardon!
At the manger there was room for all, regardless of race restrictions or color classifications. "There is room" aplenty for friend and foe, since the Infant Jesus is the world's Saviour. He was born and He died so that all men, regardless of how completely they be segregated into opposing groups, might be saved. During the First World War, Christmas came to a Russian war prison camp in Siberia. Up to that time it had been the scene of homesickness, misery, hatred, and despair. Suicide had been frequent. But when the prisoners and their guards gathered in half-underground barracks for the Christmas celebration, the leader arose to say, "There is one song all can sing tonight, "Silent Night, Holy Night." They sang it, both the guards and the prisoners, each man in his own language. When they finished, the Russian commander eyes filled with tears as he told the captives, "Tonight is the first time in more than a year that I have been able to forget you and I are supposed to be enemies." If you, too, will acclaim Bethlehem's Babe in faith and trust, your hatred will shrivel away, and in new joy you will be able to worship the Saviour who commanded, "Love your enemies!"
"There is room" at Bethlehem for the poor, unnoticed, unacclaimed, just as the Saviour's birth was first announced to the shepherds, lowly laborers. Joseph Mohr, who wrote the beloved lines of Silent Night, Holy Night, lived a humble, unpretentious life. He died within twelve miles of the palace where he was born; yet his Christmas carol has sung its way around the world. And the Christ whose "strength is made perfect in weakness" can likewise save you for important purposes, no matter how little attention the world pays you. Indeed, the plain and underprivileged have always been especially welcomed by His mercy.
~Walter A. Maier~
(continued with # 3)
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Saturday, January 26, 2019
No Room For Christ, Yet Room For Us! # 1
No Room For Christ, Yet Room For Us! # 1
"There was no room for them in the inn" (Luke 2:7).
"Yet there is room" (Luke 14:22).
Years ago, when the Germans invaded the Low Countries, the officials of a small Belgian community prepared to flee. Their village church contained a famous Van Dyck painting of Christ, and to save this treasure, the burgonmaster and his wife loaded it on a truck and started for Southern France. During their whole hazardous journey they found no welcome for the priceless painting of the Saviour, no roof under which the masterpiece could be sheltered. Because the weather was cold and stormy, they used its large frame and canvas as a shelter from rain and wind, until, months later, it was safely housed.
As I wish every one of you not a merry Christmas (for who, considering the American lives lost hourly in the war, the souls constantly endangered in the present conflict, can be merry in a carnal, careless way?) but a blessed, Christ-centered Christmas in your soul and family circle, I remind you that this Belgian incident represents on a small scale the startling contradiction continuously in progress since the first Christmas. Millions have closed the door of the hearts and homes to Jesus; yet in His unfathomable love He still stretches forth His hands with the invitation of love "Come to Me." The striking contrast of nineteen centuries is summarized in this mystery of mercy and misbelief: the double truth of our Christmas text: first, the words of Luke, chapter two, verse seven, "There is no room for them in the inn," and then the Saviour's pledge of peace, Luke, chapter fourteen, verse twenty-two, "Yet there is room."
1. Sinful Men Refuse To Receive The Sinless Christ Child
Before the war the newspapers described a $5,000 crib made for a baby born into one of Europe's royal families. Five thousand dollars worth of carving, metal work, studded jewels, and artistry all for a human child! Yet, when Jesus, sinless and stainless, born of a virgin by a marvelous miracle, came into the world, His parents had not even a plain cot on which He could lie. They laid Him in a manger, the feeding trough of animals. You have seen that manger glorified on Christmas postcards as an ornate bed, bright with dazzling colors, pictured in a pillared, vaulted room. Famous painters have reproduced it as a substantial piece of furniture, not unlike the little crib in which perhaps you were cradled, and have depicted worshiping angels and celestial musicians hovering about it. But how utterly different the poverty of the Saviour's birth! Most of you cannot imagine the conditions in that stable where the King of kings came into this world. His birthplace was probably a cave dug into a hill outside the inn, a stable for beasts of burden; a dirty, smelly place that few American communities would tolerate.
Why was the Lord of glory born an outcast? Our text explains, "There was no room for them in the inn," and no willingness to accommodate them, we may add. It was every man for himself in those days, and men before women, particularly women with children. We may assume that, if there was no room in the inn probably no resting place in the little town was available on that Christmas eve. Modern Bethlehem has only 8,000 inhabitants - in the Saviour's day it may have been only one-tenth as large. Who among the villagers would be interested and warmhearted enough to shelter a couple that expected a baby within a few hours? Who would bother with them when it would be so much more convenient to rent space to others in the crowd registering for the census? Mary and Joseph may have had friends or even relatives in Bethlehem, but apparently all doors were barred to them. The priests, the Levites, the scribes, the Pharisees, the businessmen, the traders, the workmen, the shrewd housewives all those "of the house and lineage of David?" who had come to Bethlehem at the decree of Caesar Augustus and his governor never dreamed that they could have accepted the most startling opportunity for service mortal man has ever known, the privilege of providing quarters for the promised Christ Child, the Redeemer of mankind. If they saw Mary and Joseph, they doubtless raised their proud heads higher, the more disdainfully to look down on the couple that had come from despised Galilee at such an inappropriate time.
The whole Christmas story, despite its Palestinian setting and its distance in time, has modern and American counterparts. We read that all the people had enrolled for taxation, and we begin to compute our new taxes, the highest in American history, levied for the year drawing to its close, with more people than ever before making returns. As we see Mary and Joseph on the road, traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem, we think of the tremendous military and industrial movements in the United States that have made many of you journey far and often, that today station your soldiers and defense workers away from home. Recalling the crowded conditions in Bethlehem, we survey the many overcrowded American communities, where some of you now hear this Christmas message in cramped quarters, trailer camps, furnished rooms. When you find the Holy Family surrounded by unsympathetic people, you will be inclined to draw comparisons with the fact that you, too, are a stranger in a strange place, that no one paid attention to you, except those who can make money through your patronage. Yet it seems to me that the most striking similarity between the first Christmas and this anniversary is the rejection of Jesus. Multitudes still have no room for Him. Before we begin to denounce the unfriendly citizens of David's city, we should admit that masses in America, had Mary and Joseph come to their homes this morning, would have refused to welcome them. More than half our population has heard of Christ's merciful love; millions celebrate the day of His birth intensively and speak His name in holiday greetings; yet consistently, year after year, they have closed their hearts to Him, saying in effect, "There is no room in my shriveled, hate-filled, care-crowded soul for that Child in the manger."
~Walter A. Maier~
(continued with # 2)
"There was no room for them in the inn" (Luke 2:7).
"Yet there is room" (Luke 14:22).
Years ago, when the Germans invaded the Low Countries, the officials of a small Belgian community prepared to flee. Their village church contained a famous Van Dyck painting of Christ, and to save this treasure, the burgonmaster and his wife loaded it on a truck and started for Southern France. During their whole hazardous journey they found no welcome for the priceless painting of the Saviour, no roof under which the masterpiece could be sheltered. Because the weather was cold and stormy, they used its large frame and canvas as a shelter from rain and wind, until, months later, it was safely housed.
As I wish every one of you not a merry Christmas (for who, considering the American lives lost hourly in the war, the souls constantly endangered in the present conflict, can be merry in a carnal, careless way?) but a blessed, Christ-centered Christmas in your soul and family circle, I remind you that this Belgian incident represents on a small scale the startling contradiction continuously in progress since the first Christmas. Millions have closed the door of the hearts and homes to Jesus; yet in His unfathomable love He still stretches forth His hands with the invitation of love "Come to Me." The striking contrast of nineteen centuries is summarized in this mystery of mercy and misbelief: the double truth of our Christmas text: first, the words of Luke, chapter two, verse seven, "There is no room for them in the inn," and then the Saviour's pledge of peace, Luke, chapter fourteen, verse twenty-two, "Yet there is room."
1. Sinful Men Refuse To Receive The Sinless Christ Child
Before the war the newspapers described a $5,000 crib made for a baby born into one of Europe's royal families. Five thousand dollars worth of carving, metal work, studded jewels, and artistry all for a human child! Yet, when Jesus, sinless and stainless, born of a virgin by a marvelous miracle, came into the world, His parents had not even a plain cot on which He could lie. They laid Him in a manger, the feeding trough of animals. You have seen that manger glorified on Christmas postcards as an ornate bed, bright with dazzling colors, pictured in a pillared, vaulted room. Famous painters have reproduced it as a substantial piece of furniture, not unlike the little crib in which perhaps you were cradled, and have depicted worshiping angels and celestial musicians hovering about it. But how utterly different the poverty of the Saviour's birth! Most of you cannot imagine the conditions in that stable where the King of kings came into this world. His birthplace was probably a cave dug into a hill outside the inn, a stable for beasts of burden; a dirty, smelly place that few American communities would tolerate.
Why was the Lord of glory born an outcast? Our text explains, "There was no room for them in the inn," and no willingness to accommodate them, we may add. It was every man for himself in those days, and men before women, particularly women with children. We may assume that, if there was no room in the inn probably no resting place in the little town was available on that Christmas eve. Modern Bethlehem has only 8,000 inhabitants - in the Saviour's day it may have been only one-tenth as large. Who among the villagers would be interested and warmhearted enough to shelter a couple that expected a baby within a few hours? Who would bother with them when it would be so much more convenient to rent space to others in the crowd registering for the census? Mary and Joseph may have had friends or even relatives in Bethlehem, but apparently all doors were barred to them. The priests, the Levites, the scribes, the Pharisees, the businessmen, the traders, the workmen, the shrewd housewives all those "of the house and lineage of David?" who had come to Bethlehem at the decree of Caesar Augustus and his governor never dreamed that they could have accepted the most startling opportunity for service mortal man has ever known, the privilege of providing quarters for the promised Christ Child, the Redeemer of mankind. If they saw Mary and Joseph, they doubtless raised their proud heads higher, the more disdainfully to look down on the couple that had come from despised Galilee at such an inappropriate time.
The whole Christmas story, despite its Palestinian setting and its distance in time, has modern and American counterparts. We read that all the people had enrolled for taxation, and we begin to compute our new taxes, the highest in American history, levied for the year drawing to its close, with more people than ever before making returns. As we see Mary and Joseph on the road, traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem, we think of the tremendous military and industrial movements in the United States that have made many of you journey far and often, that today station your soldiers and defense workers away from home. Recalling the crowded conditions in Bethlehem, we survey the many overcrowded American communities, where some of you now hear this Christmas message in cramped quarters, trailer camps, furnished rooms. When you find the Holy Family surrounded by unsympathetic people, you will be inclined to draw comparisons with the fact that you, too, are a stranger in a strange place, that no one paid attention to you, except those who can make money through your patronage. Yet it seems to me that the most striking similarity between the first Christmas and this anniversary is the rejection of Jesus. Multitudes still have no room for Him. Before we begin to denounce the unfriendly citizens of David's city, we should admit that masses in America, had Mary and Joseph come to their homes this morning, would have refused to welcome them. More than half our population has heard of Christ's merciful love; millions celebrate the day of His birth intensively and speak His name in holiday greetings; yet consistently, year after year, they have closed their hearts to Him, saying in effect, "There is no room in my shriveled, hate-filled, care-crowded soul for that Child in the manger."
~Walter A. Maier~
(continued with # 2)
Why Delay Your Real Conversion? # 4
Why Delay Your Real Conversion? # 4
Philosophy doesn't answer it. Infidelity doesn't answer it. First, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Believe on the Lord. Lord - that's His kingly name. That's the name He reigns under. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus." It takes that kind of a confession. Give me a Saviour with a sympathetic eye to watch me so I shall not slander. Give me a Saviour with a strong arm to catch me if I stumble. Give me a Saviour that will hear my slightest moan.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Christ is His resurrection name. He is sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for us.
Because of His divinity He understands God's side of it and because of His humanity He understands our side of it. Who is better qualified to be the mediator? He's a mediator. What is that? A lawyer is a mediator between the jury and the defendant. A retail merchant is a mediator between the wholesale dealer and the consumer. Therefore, Jesus Christ is the Mediator between God and man. Believe on the Lord. He's ruling today. Believe on the Lord Jesus. He died to save us. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Mediator.
Her majesty, Queen Victoria, was traveling in Scotland when a storm came up and she took refuge in a little hut of a Highlander. She stayed there for an hour and when she went the good wife said to her husband, "We'll tie a ribbon on that chair because her majesty has sat on it and no one else will ever sit on it." A friend of mine was there later and was going to sit in the chair when the man cried: "Nae, nae, mon. Dinna sit there. Her majesty spent an hour with us once and she sat on that chair and we tied a ribbon on it and no one else will ever sit on it." They were honored that her majesty had spent the hour with them. It brought unspeakable joy to them.
It's great that Jesus Christ will sit on the throne of my heart, not for an hour, but here to sway His power forever and ever.
"He died for Me"
In the civil war there was a band of guerrillas - Quantrell's band - that had been ordered to be shot on sight. They had burned a town in Iowa and they had been caught. One long ditch was dug and they were lined up in front of it and blindfolded and tied, and just as the firing squad was ready to present arms a young man dashed through the bushes and cried, "Stop!" He told the commander of the firing squad that he as guilty as any of the others,but he had escaped and had come of his own free will, and pointed to one man in the line and asked to take his place. "I'm single," he said, "while he has a wife and babies." The commander of that firing squad was an usher in one of the cities in which I held meetings, and he told me how the young fellow was blindfolded and bound and the guns rang out and he fell dead.
Time went on and one day a man came upon another in a graveyard in Missouri weeping and shaping the grave into form. The first man asked who was buried there the the other said, "The best friend I ever had." Then he told how he had not gone far away but had come back and got the body of his friend after he had been shot and buried it; so he knew he had the right body. And he had brought a withered bouquet all the way from his home to put on the grave. He was poor then and could not afford anything costly, but he had placed a slab of wood on the pliable earth with these words on it: "He died for me."
Major Whittle stood by the grave some time later and saw the same monument. If you go there now you will see something different. The man became rich and today there is a marble monument fifteen feet high and on it this inscription:
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIE LEE HE TOOK MY PLACE IN THE LINE HE DIED FOR ME
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JESUS CHRIST. HE TOOK OUR PLACE ON THE CROSS AND GAVE HIS LIFE THAT WE MIGHT LIVE, AND GO TO HEAVEN AND REIGN WITH HIM!
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, confess Him with thy mouth, and thou shall be saved and thy house."
It is a great salvation that can reach down into the quagmire of filth, pull a young man out and send him out to hunt for his mother and fill her days with sunshine. It is a great salvation,for it saves from great sin.
The way to salvation is not Harvard, Princeton, Vassar or Wellesley Environment and culture can't put you into heaven with you accept Jesus Christ.
It's great. I want to tell you that the way to heaven is a blood-stained way. No man has ever reached it without Jesus Christ and he never will.
~Billy Sunday~
(The End)
Philosophy doesn't answer it. Infidelity doesn't answer it. First, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Believe on the Lord. Lord - that's His kingly name. That's the name He reigns under. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus." It takes that kind of a confession. Give me a Saviour with a sympathetic eye to watch me so I shall not slander. Give me a Saviour with a strong arm to catch me if I stumble. Give me a Saviour that will hear my slightest moan.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Christ is His resurrection name. He is sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for us.
Because of His divinity He understands God's side of it and because of His humanity He understands our side of it. Who is better qualified to be the mediator? He's a mediator. What is that? A lawyer is a mediator between the jury and the defendant. A retail merchant is a mediator between the wholesale dealer and the consumer. Therefore, Jesus Christ is the Mediator between God and man. Believe on the Lord. He's ruling today. Believe on the Lord Jesus. He died to save us. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Mediator.
Her majesty, Queen Victoria, was traveling in Scotland when a storm came up and she took refuge in a little hut of a Highlander. She stayed there for an hour and when she went the good wife said to her husband, "We'll tie a ribbon on that chair because her majesty has sat on it and no one else will ever sit on it." A friend of mine was there later and was going to sit in the chair when the man cried: "Nae, nae, mon. Dinna sit there. Her majesty spent an hour with us once and she sat on that chair and we tied a ribbon on it and no one else will ever sit on it." They were honored that her majesty had spent the hour with them. It brought unspeakable joy to them.
It's great that Jesus Christ will sit on the throne of my heart, not for an hour, but here to sway His power forever and ever.
"He died for Me"
In the civil war there was a band of guerrillas - Quantrell's band - that had been ordered to be shot on sight. They had burned a town in Iowa and they had been caught. One long ditch was dug and they were lined up in front of it and blindfolded and tied, and just as the firing squad was ready to present arms a young man dashed through the bushes and cried, "Stop!" He told the commander of the firing squad that he as guilty as any of the others,but he had escaped and had come of his own free will, and pointed to one man in the line and asked to take his place. "I'm single," he said, "while he has a wife and babies." The commander of that firing squad was an usher in one of the cities in which I held meetings, and he told me how the young fellow was blindfolded and bound and the guns rang out and he fell dead.
Time went on and one day a man came upon another in a graveyard in Missouri weeping and shaping the grave into form. The first man asked who was buried there the the other said, "The best friend I ever had." Then he told how he had not gone far away but had come back and got the body of his friend after he had been shot and buried it; so he knew he had the right body. And he had brought a withered bouquet all the way from his home to put on the grave. He was poor then and could not afford anything costly, but he had placed a slab of wood on the pliable earth with these words on it: "He died for me."
Major Whittle stood by the grave some time later and saw the same monument. If you go there now you will see something different. The man became rich and today there is a marble monument fifteen feet high and on it this inscription:
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIE LEE HE TOOK MY PLACE IN THE LINE HE DIED FOR ME
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JESUS CHRIST. HE TOOK OUR PLACE ON THE CROSS AND GAVE HIS LIFE THAT WE MIGHT LIVE, AND GO TO HEAVEN AND REIGN WITH HIM!
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, confess Him with thy mouth, and thou shall be saved and thy house."
It is a great salvation that can reach down into the quagmire of filth, pull a young man out and send him out to hunt for his mother and fill her days with sunshine. It is a great salvation,for it saves from great sin.
The way to salvation is not Harvard, Princeton, Vassar or Wellesley Environment and culture can't put you into heaven with you accept Jesus Christ.
It's great. I want to tell you that the way to heaven is a blood-stained way. No man has ever reached it without Jesus Christ and he never will.
~Billy Sunday~
(The End)
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Why Delay Your True Conversion? # 3
Why Delay Your True Conversion? # 3
Rising and following Christ switched Matthew from the broad to the narrow way. He must have counted the cost as he would have balanced his cash book. He put one side against the other. The life he was living led to all chance of gain. On the other side there was Jesus, and Jesus outweighs all else. He saw the balance turn as the tide of a battle turns and then it ended with his decision. The sinner died and the disciple was born.
I believe that the reason the story of Matthew was written was to show how a man could be converted quickly and quietly. It didn't take him five or ten years to begin to do something - he got busy right away.
You don't believe in quick conversions? There have been a dozen men of modern times who have been powers of God whose conversion was as quiet as Matthew's. Charles G. Finney never went to a camp meeting. He was out in the woods alone, praying, when he was converted. Sam Jones, a mighty man of God, was converted at the bedside of his dying father. Moody accepted Christ while waiting on a customer in a boot and shoe store. Dr. Chapman was converted as a boy in a Sunday school. All the other boys in the class had accepted Christ, and only Wilbur remained. The teacher turned to him and said, "And how about you, Wilbur?" He replied, "I will," and he turned to Christ and has been one of his most powerful evangelists for many years. Gipsy Smith was converted in his father's tent. R. A. Torrey was an agnostic, and in comparing agnosticism, infidelity and Christianity, he found the scale tipped toward Christ. Luther was converted as he crawled up a flight of stairs in Rome.
Seemingly the men who have moved the world for Christ have been converted in a quiet manner. The way to judge a tree is by its fruit. Judge a tree of quiet conversion in this way.
Another lesson. When conversion compels people to forsake their previous calling, God gives them a better job. Luke said, "He left all." Little did he (Matthew) dream that his influence would be world-reaching and eternity-covering. His position as tax collector seemed like a big job, but it was picking up pins compared to the job God gave him. Some of you may be holding back for fear of being put out of your job. If you do right God will see that you do no suffer. He has given plenty of promises, and if you plant your feet on them you can defy the poor house. Trust in the Lord means that God will feed you. Following Christ you may discover a goldmine of ability that you never dreamed of possessing. There was a saloon keeper, converted in a meeting in New Castle, who won hundreds of people to Christ by his testimony and his preaching.
You do not need to be in the church before the voice comes to you; you don't need to be reading the Bible; you don't need to be rich or poor or learned. Wherever Christ comes follow Him. You may be converted while engaged in your daily business. Men cannot put up a wall and keep Jesus away. The still small voice will find you.
At the Cross-roads
Right where the two roads through life diverge God has put Calvary. There He put up a Cross, the stumbling block over which the love of God said, "I'll touch the heart of man with the thought of father and son." He thought that would win the world to Him, but for nineteen hundred years men have climbed the Mount of Calvary and trampled into the earth the tenderest teachings of God.
You are on the devil's side. How are you going to cross over? So you cross the line and God won't give you any extradition papers. Some of you want to cross. If you believe, then say so, and step across. I'll bet there are hundreds that are on the edge of the line and many are standing straddling it. But that won't save you. You believe in your heart - confess Him with your mouth. With his heart man believes and with his mouth he confesses. Then confess and receive salvation full, free, perfect and external. God will not grant any extradition papers. Get over the old line. A man isn't a soldier because he wears a uniform, carries a gun, or carries a canteen. He is a soldier when he makes a definite enlistment. All of the others can be bought without enlisting. When a man becomes a soldier he goes out on muster day and takes an oath to defend his country. It's the oath that makes him a soldier. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile, but public definite enlistment for Christ makes you a Christian!
"Oh," a woman said to me out in Iowa, "Mr. Sunday, I don't think I have to confess with my mouth." I said: "You're putting up your thought against God's."
M-o-u-t-h doesn't spell intellect. It spells mouth and you must confess with your mouth. The mouth is the biggest part about most people, anyhow!
What must I do?
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 4)
Rising and following Christ switched Matthew from the broad to the narrow way. He must have counted the cost as he would have balanced his cash book. He put one side against the other. The life he was living led to all chance of gain. On the other side there was Jesus, and Jesus outweighs all else. He saw the balance turn as the tide of a battle turns and then it ended with his decision. The sinner died and the disciple was born.
I believe that the reason the story of Matthew was written was to show how a man could be converted quickly and quietly. It didn't take him five or ten years to begin to do something - he got busy right away.
You don't believe in quick conversions? There have been a dozen men of modern times who have been powers of God whose conversion was as quiet as Matthew's. Charles G. Finney never went to a camp meeting. He was out in the woods alone, praying, when he was converted. Sam Jones, a mighty man of God, was converted at the bedside of his dying father. Moody accepted Christ while waiting on a customer in a boot and shoe store. Dr. Chapman was converted as a boy in a Sunday school. All the other boys in the class had accepted Christ, and only Wilbur remained. The teacher turned to him and said, "And how about you, Wilbur?" He replied, "I will," and he turned to Christ and has been one of his most powerful evangelists for many years. Gipsy Smith was converted in his father's tent. R. A. Torrey was an agnostic, and in comparing agnosticism, infidelity and Christianity, he found the scale tipped toward Christ. Luther was converted as he crawled up a flight of stairs in Rome.
Seemingly the men who have moved the world for Christ have been converted in a quiet manner. The way to judge a tree is by its fruit. Judge a tree of quiet conversion in this way.
Another lesson. When conversion compels people to forsake their previous calling, God gives them a better job. Luke said, "He left all." Little did he (Matthew) dream that his influence would be world-reaching and eternity-covering. His position as tax collector seemed like a big job, but it was picking up pins compared to the job God gave him. Some of you may be holding back for fear of being put out of your job. If you do right God will see that you do no suffer. He has given plenty of promises, and if you plant your feet on them you can defy the poor house. Trust in the Lord means that God will feed you. Following Christ you may discover a goldmine of ability that you never dreamed of possessing. There was a saloon keeper, converted in a meeting in New Castle, who won hundreds of people to Christ by his testimony and his preaching.
You do not need to be in the church before the voice comes to you; you don't need to be reading the Bible; you don't need to be rich or poor or learned. Wherever Christ comes follow Him. You may be converted while engaged in your daily business. Men cannot put up a wall and keep Jesus away. The still small voice will find you.
At the Cross-roads
Right where the two roads through life diverge God has put Calvary. There He put up a Cross, the stumbling block over which the love of God said, "I'll touch the heart of man with the thought of father and son." He thought that would win the world to Him, but for nineteen hundred years men have climbed the Mount of Calvary and trampled into the earth the tenderest teachings of God.
You are on the devil's side. How are you going to cross over? So you cross the line and God won't give you any extradition papers. Some of you want to cross. If you believe, then say so, and step across. I'll bet there are hundreds that are on the edge of the line and many are standing straddling it. But that won't save you. You believe in your heart - confess Him with your mouth. With his heart man believes and with his mouth he confesses. Then confess and receive salvation full, free, perfect and external. God will not grant any extradition papers. Get over the old line. A man isn't a soldier because he wears a uniform, carries a gun, or carries a canteen. He is a soldier when he makes a definite enlistment. All of the others can be bought without enlisting. When a man becomes a soldier he goes out on muster day and takes an oath to defend his country. It's the oath that makes him a soldier. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile, but public definite enlistment for Christ makes you a Christian!
"Oh," a woman said to me out in Iowa, "Mr. Sunday, I don't think I have to confess with my mouth." I said: "You're putting up your thought against God's."
M-o-u-t-h doesn't spell intellect. It spells mouth and you must confess with your mouth. The mouth is the biggest part about most people, anyhow!
What must I do?
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 4)
Why Delay Your Real Conversion? # 2
Why Delay Your Real Conversion? # 2
What can I do to keep out of hell? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."
The Philippians jailer was converted. He had put the disciples into the stocks when they came to the prison, but after his conversion he stooped down and washed the blood from their stripes.
Now, leave God out of the proposition for a minute. Never mind about the new birth - that's His business. Jesus Christ became a man, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. He died on the Cross for us, so that we might escape the penalty pronounced on us. Now, never mind about anything but our part in salvation. Here is it? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
You say, "Mr. Sunday, the Church is full of hypocrites." So's hell!. I say to you if you don't want to go to hell and live with that whole bunch forever, come into the Church, where you won't have to associate with them very long. There are no hypocrites in heaven!
You say, "Mr. Sunday, I can be a Christian and go to heaven without joining a church." Yes, and you can go to Europe without getting on board a boat. The swimming's good - but the sharks are laying for fellows who take that route. I don't believe you. If a man is truly saved he will hunt for a church right away.
You say, "It's so mysterious. I don't understand." You'll be surprised to find out how little you know. You plant a seed in the ground - that's your part. You don't understand how it grows. How God makes that seed grow is mysterious to you.
Some people think that they can't be converted unless they go down on their knees in the straw at a camp-meeting, unless they pray all hours of the night, and all nights of the week, while some old brother storms heaven in prayer. Some think a man must lose sleep, must come down the aisle with a haggard look, and he must froth at the mouth and dance and shout. Some get it that way, and they don't think that the work I do is genuine unless conversions are made in the same way that they have got religion.
I want to see what God put in black and white; that there can be a sound, thorough conversion in an instant; that man can be converted as quietly as the coming day and never backslide. I do not find fault with the way other people get religion. What I want and preach is the fact that a man can be converted without any fuss.
If a man wants to shout and clap his hands in joy over his wife's conversion, or if a wife wants to cry when her husband is converted, I am not going to turn the hose on them, or put them in a straitjacket. When a man turns to God truly in conversion, I do care what form his conversion takes. I wasn't converted that way, but I do not rush around and say, with gall and bitterness, that you are not saved because you did not get religion the way I did. If we all got religion in the same way, the devil might go to sleep with a regular Rip Van Winkle snooze and still be on the job.
Look at Nicodemus. You could never get a man with the temperament of Nicodemus near a camp meeting, to kneel down in the straw, or to shout and sing. He was a quiet, thoughtful, honest, sincere and cautious man. He wanted to know the truth and he was willing to walk in the light when he found it.
Look at the man at the pool of Bethesda. He was a big sinner and was in a lot of trouble which his sins had made for him. He had been in that condition for a long time. It didn't take him three minutes to say "Yes," when the Lord spoke to him. See how quickly he was converted.
"And He Arose and Followed Him"
Matthew stood in the presence of Christ and he realized what it would be to be without Christ, to be without hope, and it brought him to a quick decision. "And he arose and followed him."
How long did that conversion take? How long did it take him to accept Christ after he had made up his mind? And you tell me you can't make an instant decision to please God? The decision of Matthew proves that you can. While he was sitting at his desk he was not a disciple. The instant he arose he was. That move changed his attitude toward God. Then he ceased to do evil and commenced to do good. You can be converted just as quickly as Matthew was.
God says, "Let the wicked man forsake his way." The instant that is done, no matter if the man has been a life-long sinner, he is safe. There is no need of struggling for hours - or for days - do it now. Who are you struggling with? Not God. God's mind was made up long before the foundations of the earth were laid. The plan of salvation was made long before there was any sin in the world. Electricity existed long before there was anything for it to drive. "Let the wicked man forsake his way." When? Within a month, within a week, within a day, within an hour? No! Now! The instant you yield, God's plan of salvation is thrown into gear. You will be saved before you know it, like a child being born.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 3)
What can I do to keep out of hell? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."
The Philippians jailer was converted. He had put the disciples into the stocks when they came to the prison, but after his conversion he stooped down and washed the blood from their stripes.
Now, leave God out of the proposition for a minute. Never mind about the new birth - that's His business. Jesus Christ became a man, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. He died on the Cross for us, so that we might escape the penalty pronounced on us. Now, never mind about anything but our part in salvation. Here is it? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
You say, "Mr. Sunday, the Church is full of hypocrites." So's hell!. I say to you if you don't want to go to hell and live with that whole bunch forever, come into the Church, where you won't have to associate with them very long. There are no hypocrites in heaven!
You say, "Mr. Sunday, I can be a Christian and go to heaven without joining a church." Yes, and you can go to Europe without getting on board a boat. The swimming's good - but the sharks are laying for fellows who take that route. I don't believe you. If a man is truly saved he will hunt for a church right away.
You say, "It's so mysterious. I don't understand." You'll be surprised to find out how little you know. You plant a seed in the ground - that's your part. You don't understand how it grows. How God makes that seed grow is mysterious to you.
Some people think that they can't be converted unless they go down on their knees in the straw at a camp-meeting, unless they pray all hours of the night, and all nights of the week, while some old brother storms heaven in prayer. Some think a man must lose sleep, must come down the aisle with a haggard look, and he must froth at the mouth and dance and shout. Some get it that way, and they don't think that the work I do is genuine unless conversions are made in the same way that they have got religion.
I want to see what God put in black and white; that there can be a sound, thorough conversion in an instant; that man can be converted as quietly as the coming day and never backslide. I do not find fault with the way other people get religion. What I want and preach is the fact that a man can be converted without any fuss.
If a man wants to shout and clap his hands in joy over his wife's conversion, or if a wife wants to cry when her husband is converted, I am not going to turn the hose on them, or put them in a straitjacket. When a man turns to God truly in conversion, I do care what form his conversion takes. I wasn't converted that way, but I do not rush around and say, with gall and bitterness, that you are not saved because you did not get religion the way I did. If we all got religion in the same way, the devil might go to sleep with a regular Rip Van Winkle snooze and still be on the job.
Look at Nicodemus. You could never get a man with the temperament of Nicodemus near a camp meeting, to kneel down in the straw, or to shout and sing. He was a quiet, thoughtful, honest, sincere and cautious man. He wanted to know the truth and he was willing to walk in the light when he found it.
Look at the man at the pool of Bethesda. He was a big sinner and was in a lot of trouble which his sins had made for him. He had been in that condition for a long time. It didn't take him three minutes to say "Yes," when the Lord spoke to him. See how quickly he was converted.
"And He Arose and Followed Him"
Matthew stood in the presence of Christ and he realized what it would be to be without Christ, to be without hope, and it brought him to a quick decision. "And he arose and followed him."
How long did that conversion take? How long did it take him to accept Christ after he had made up his mind? And you tell me you can't make an instant decision to please God? The decision of Matthew proves that you can. While he was sitting at his desk he was not a disciple. The instant he arose he was. That move changed his attitude toward God. Then he ceased to do evil and commenced to do good. You can be converted just as quickly as Matthew was.
God says, "Let the wicked man forsake his way." The instant that is done, no matter if the man has been a life-long sinner, he is safe. There is no need of struggling for hours - or for days - do it now. Who are you struggling with? Not God. God's mind was made up long before the foundations of the earth were laid. The plan of salvation was made long before there was any sin in the world. Electricity existed long before there was anything for it to drive. "Let the wicked man forsake his way." When? Within a month, within a week, within a day, within an hour? No! Now! The instant you yield, God's plan of salvation is thrown into gear. You will be saved before you know it, like a child being born.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 3)
Why Delay Your Real Conversion? # 1
Why Delay Your Real Conversion? # 1
What does converted mean? It means completely changed. Converted is not synonymous with reformed. Reforms are without - conversion from within. Conversion is a complete surrender to Jesus. It's a willingness to do what He wants you to do. Unless you have made a complete surrender to Jesus, it's a willingness to do what He wants you to do. Unless you have made a complete surrender and are doing His will it will avail you nothing if you've reformed a thousand times and have your name on fifty church records.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, in your heart and confess him with your mouth and you will be saved. God is good. The plan of salvation is presented to you in two parts. Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. Many of you here probably do believe. Why don't you confess? Now own up. The truth is that you have a yellow streak! Own up, business men, and business women, and all of you others. Isn't it so? Haven't you got a little saffron? Brave old Elijah ran like a scared deer when he heard old Jezebel had said she would have his head, and he beat it. And he ran to Beersheba and lay down under a juniper tree and cried to the Lord to let him die. The Lord answered his prayer, but not in the way he expected. If he had let him die he would have died with nothing but the wind moaning through the trees as his funeral dirge. But the Lord had something better for Elijah. He had a chariot of fire and it swooped down and carried him into glory without his ever seeing death. (2 Chron. 21:12).
So he says he has something better for you - salvation if he can get you to see it. You've kept your church membership locked up. You've smiled at a smutty story. When God and the Church were scoffed at you never peeped, and when asked to stand up here you've sneaked out the back way and beat it. You're afraid and God despises a coward - a mutt. You cannot be converted by thinking so and sitting still.
Maybe you're a drunkard, an adulterer, a prostitute, a liar; won't admit you are lost; are proud. Maybe you're even proud you're not proud, and Jesus has a time of it.
Jesus said: "Come to me," not to the Church; to Me, not to a creed; to Me, not to a preacher; to Me, not to an evangelist; to Me, not to a priest; to Me, not to a pope; "Come to Me and I will give you rest." Faith in Jesus Christ saves you, not faith in the Church.
You can join church, pay your share of the preacher's salary, attend the services, teach Sunday school, return thanks and do everything that would apparently stamp you as a Christian - even pray - but you won't ever be a Christian - until you do what God tells you to do!
That's the road, and that's the only one mapped out for you and for me. God treats all alike. He doesn't furnish one plan for the banker and another for the janitor who sweeps out the bank. He has the same plan for one that He has for another. It's the law - you may not approve of it, but that doesn't make any difference.
Salvation A Personal Matter
The first thing to remember about being saved is that salvation is a personal matter. "Seek ye the Lord" - that means every one must seek for himself. It won't do for the parent to seek for the children; it won't do for the children to seek for the parent. If you were sick all the medicine I might take wouldn't do you any good. Salvation is a personal matter that no one else can do for you; you must attend to it yourself.
Some persons have lived manly or womanly lives, and they lack but one thing - open confession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some men think, that they must come to Him in a certain way - that they must be stirred by emotion or something like that.
Some people have a deeper conviction of sin before they are converted than after they are converted. With some it is the other way. Some know when they are converted and others don't.
Some people are emotional and demonstrative. Some will cry easily. Some are cold and can't be moved to emotion. A man jumped up in a meeting and asked whether he could be saved when he hadn't shed a tear in forty years. Even as he spoke to began to shed tears. It's all a matter of how you're constituted. I am vehement, and I serve God with the same vehemence that I served the devil when I went down the line.
Some of you say that in order to accept Jesus you must have different surroundings. You think you could do it better in some other place. You can be saved where you are as well as any place on earth. I say, "My watch doesn't run. It needs new surroundings. I'll put it in this other pocket, or I'll put it here, or her on these flowers." It doesn't need new surroundings. It needs a new mainspring; and that's what the sinner needs. You need a new heart, not a new suit.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 2)
What does converted mean? It means completely changed. Converted is not synonymous with reformed. Reforms are without - conversion from within. Conversion is a complete surrender to Jesus. It's a willingness to do what He wants you to do. Unless you have made a complete surrender to Jesus, it's a willingness to do what He wants you to do. Unless you have made a complete surrender and are doing His will it will avail you nothing if you've reformed a thousand times and have your name on fifty church records.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, in your heart and confess him with your mouth and you will be saved. God is good. The plan of salvation is presented to you in two parts. Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. Many of you here probably do believe. Why don't you confess? Now own up. The truth is that you have a yellow streak! Own up, business men, and business women, and all of you others. Isn't it so? Haven't you got a little saffron? Brave old Elijah ran like a scared deer when he heard old Jezebel had said she would have his head, and he beat it. And he ran to Beersheba and lay down under a juniper tree and cried to the Lord to let him die. The Lord answered his prayer, but not in the way he expected. If he had let him die he would have died with nothing but the wind moaning through the trees as his funeral dirge. But the Lord had something better for Elijah. He had a chariot of fire and it swooped down and carried him into glory without his ever seeing death. (2 Chron. 21:12).
So he says he has something better for you - salvation if he can get you to see it. You've kept your church membership locked up. You've smiled at a smutty story. When God and the Church were scoffed at you never peeped, and when asked to stand up here you've sneaked out the back way and beat it. You're afraid and God despises a coward - a mutt. You cannot be converted by thinking so and sitting still.
Maybe you're a drunkard, an adulterer, a prostitute, a liar; won't admit you are lost; are proud. Maybe you're even proud you're not proud, and Jesus has a time of it.
Jesus said: "Come to me," not to the Church; to Me, not to a creed; to Me, not to a preacher; to Me, not to an evangelist; to Me, not to a priest; to Me, not to a pope; "Come to Me and I will give you rest." Faith in Jesus Christ saves you, not faith in the Church.
You can join church, pay your share of the preacher's salary, attend the services, teach Sunday school, return thanks and do everything that would apparently stamp you as a Christian - even pray - but you won't ever be a Christian - until you do what God tells you to do!
That's the road, and that's the only one mapped out for you and for me. God treats all alike. He doesn't furnish one plan for the banker and another for the janitor who sweeps out the bank. He has the same plan for one that He has for another. It's the law - you may not approve of it, but that doesn't make any difference.
Salvation A Personal Matter
The first thing to remember about being saved is that salvation is a personal matter. "Seek ye the Lord" - that means every one must seek for himself. It won't do for the parent to seek for the children; it won't do for the children to seek for the parent. If you were sick all the medicine I might take wouldn't do you any good. Salvation is a personal matter that no one else can do for you; you must attend to it yourself.
Some persons have lived manly or womanly lives, and they lack but one thing - open confession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some men think, that they must come to Him in a certain way - that they must be stirred by emotion or something like that.
Some people have a deeper conviction of sin before they are converted than after they are converted. With some it is the other way. Some know when they are converted and others don't.
Some people are emotional and demonstrative. Some will cry easily. Some are cold and can't be moved to emotion. A man jumped up in a meeting and asked whether he could be saved when he hadn't shed a tear in forty years. Even as he spoke to began to shed tears. It's all a matter of how you're constituted. I am vehement, and I serve God with the same vehemence that I served the devil when I went down the line.
Some of you say that in order to accept Jesus you must have different surroundings. You think you could do it better in some other place. You can be saved where you are as well as any place on earth. I say, "My watch doesn't run. It needs new surroundings. I'll put it in this other pocket, or I'll put it here, or her on these flowers." It doesn't need new surroundings. It needs a new mainspring; and that's what the sinner needs. You need a new heart, not a new suit.
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 2)
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Joseph Saw God in the Room!
Joseph Saw God in the Room!
"The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:9).
The harboring of any known sin, either in heart or life, is a high contempt of the all-seeing eye of God - of the omnipresence of God.
It is well known what Ahasuerus, that great monarch, said concerning Haman, when he found him cast upon the queen's couch on which she sat: "What!" says he, "Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes!" What! will he dare to commit such a villainy - as I stand and look on?
O sirs! to do wickedly in the sight of God, is a thing which He looks upon as the greatest affront and indignity that can possibly be done unto Him. "What!" says He, "Will you be drunk before Me, and swear and blaspheme before Me, and be wanton and immoral before Me, and break My laws before My eyes!"
This, then, is the killing aggravation of all sin - that is done before the face of God - in the presence of God! The consideration of God's omnipresence - that He stands and looks on, should be as a bar, to stop the proceedings of all wicked intentions; and a great dissuasive from sin.
It was an excellent saying of Ambrose, "If you cannot hide yourself from the sun, which is God's minister of light - how impossible will it be to hide yourself from Him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the sun!"
When you are in secret -consider that God is present.
God is all eye. He sees all things, in all places, at all times.
The Godly are dissuaded from wickedness, upon the consideration of God's eye and omniscience. Joseph saw God in the room - therefore dared not yield to lust. But Potiphar's wife saw none but Joseph - and so was impudently alluring and tempting him to sin.
I have read of two godly men, who took contrary courses with two harlots - whom they desired to exclaim from their wicked course of life.
One of the men told one of the women, that he was desirous to enjoy her company in secret. After she had brought him into a private room, and locked the door, he told her, "All your bars and bolts cannot keep God out!"
The other godly man asked the other harlot to be unchaste with him openly in the streets - which she rejected as an insane request. He then told her, "it was better to do it before the eyes of a crowd - than before the eyes of the all-seeing God!"
Oh, why shall not the presence of that God who hates sin, and who is resolved to punish it with hell-flames, make us ashamed or afraid to sin, and dare Him to His face! Let your eye be ever on Him - whose eye is always on you!
~Thomas Brooks~
______________________________
I Was That Soldier Who Murdered You!
"He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).
Our sins were the cause of Christ's sufferings!
It was our transgressions which gave Christ His deadly wounds! It was our sins which smote Him, and bruised Him! Every Christian may look upon Christ and say, "I was that Judas who betrayed You! I was that soldier who murdered You! It was my sins which brought all those sorrows, and sufferings, and evils upon You!
I have sinned - and You have suffered!
I have sinned - and You have died!
I have wounded You - and You have healed me!"
Oh, that we might look upon a humble Christ - with a humble heart, a broken Christ - with a broken heart, a bleeding Christ - with a bleeding heart, a wounded Christ - with a wounded heart!
"He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree; by His wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24).
Here you see that the physician's blood became the sick man's salve! Here is the gospel mystery - that the wounding of one, should be a cure of another!
Oh what an odious thing is sin to God - that He will pardon none without blood, yes, without the precious blood of His dearest Son! Oh, what a hell of wickedness must there be in sin - that nothing can expiate it but the best, the purest, the noblest blood of Christ! Oh, what a transcendent evil must sin be - that nothing can purge it away but death - the accursed death of the Cross! Oh, what a leprosy is sin - that it must have blood, yes, the blood of God, to take it away!!
~Thomas Brooks~
"The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:9).
The harboring of any known sin, either in heart or life, is a high contempt of the all-seeing eye of God - of the omnipresence of God.
It is well known what Ahasuerus, that great monarch, said concerning Haman, when he found him cast upon the queen's couch on which she sat: "What!" says he, "Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes!" What! will he dare to commit such a villainy - as I stand and look on?
O sirs! to do wickedly in the sight of God, is a thing which He looks upon as the greatest affront and indignity that can possibly be done unto Him. "What!" says He, "Will you be drunk before Me, and swear and blaspheme before Me, and be wanton and immoral before Me, and break My laws before My eyes!"
This, then, is the killing aggravation of all sin - that is done before the face of God - in the presence of God! The consideration of God's omnipresence - that He stands and looks on, should be as a bar, to stop the proceedings of all wicked intentions; and a great dissuasive from sin.
It was an excellent saying of Ambrose, "If you cannot hide yourself from the sun, which is God's minister of light - how impossible will it be to hide yourself from Him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the sun!"
When you are in secret -consider that God is present.
God is all eye. He sees all things, in all places, at all times.
The Godly are dissuaded from wickedness, upon the consideration of God's eye and omniscience. Joseph saw God in the room - therefore dared not yield to lust. But Potiphar's wife saw none but Joseph - and so was impudently alluring and tempting him to sin.
I have read of two godly men, who took contrary courses with two harlots - whom they desired to exclaim from their wicked course of life.
One of the men told one of the women, that he was desirous to enjoy her company in secret. After she had brought him into a private room, and locked the door, he told her, "All your bars and bolts cannot keep God out!"
The other godly man asked the other harlot to be unchaste with him openly in the streets - which she rejected as an insane request. He then told her, "it was better to do it before the eyes of a crowd - than before the eyes of the all-seeing God!"
Oh, why shall not the presence of that God who hates sin, and who is resolved to punish it with hell-flames, make us ashamed or afraid to sin, and dare Him to His face! Let your eye be ever on Him - whose eye is always on you!
~Thomas Brooks~
______________________________
I Was That Soldier Who Murdered You!
"He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).
Our sins were the cause of Christ's sufferings!
It was our transgressions which gave Christ His deadly wounds! It was our sins which smote Him, and bruised Him! Every Christian may look upon Christ and say, "I was that Judas who betrayed You! I was that soldier who murdered You! It was my sins which brought all those sorrows, and sufferings, and evils upon You!
I have sinned - and You have suffered!
I have sinned - and You have died!
I have wounded You - and You have healed me!"
Oh, that we might look upon a humble Christ - with a humble heart, a broken Christ - with a broken heart, a bleeding Christ - with a bleeding heart, a wounded Christ - with a wounded heart!
"He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree; by His wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24).
Here you see that the physician's blood became the sick man's salve! Here is the gospel mystery - that the wounding of one, should be a cure of another!
Oh what an odious thing is sin to God - that He will pardon none without blood, yes, without the precious blood of His dearest Son! Oh, what a hell of wickedness must there be in sin - that nothing can expiate it but the best, the purest, the noblest blood of Christ! Oh, what a transcendent evil must sin be - that nothing can purge it away but death - the accursed death of the Cross! Oh, what a leprosy is sin - that it must have blood, yes, the blood of God, to take it away!!
~Thomas Brooks~
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